The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I need some good advise as to what I should do with building my sons' time in my 172 TW. He's about ready to solo the schools' C172 and soon to be released to the practice area. But I'm trying to save him some $$ and want him to take my plane. We've flown together quite a bit and he handles take offs and landings quite well. Good 'rudder' man. The problem is (I think) he needs to be 'checked-out' in the taildragger, but no instructors here are qualified. They need a minimum of 25 hours in make and model. Cessna 172 taildragger... Not very common. I've sat right seat for hours without ever touching the controls , but he's always handled it right. I want to just throw him the keys and say fly smart, but would he be able to log that time without the endorsement?

15A wrote:I need some good advise as to what I should do with building my sons' time in my 172 TW. He's about ready to solo the schools' C172 and soon to be released to the practice area. But I'm trying to save him some $$ and want him to take my plane. We've flown together quite a bit and he handles take offs and landings quite well. Good 'rudder' man. The problem is (I think) he needs to be 'checked-out' in the taildragger, but no instructors here are qualified. They need a minimum of 25 hours in make and model. Cessna 172 taildragger... Not very common. I've sat right seat for hours without ever touching the controls , but he's always handled it right. I want to just throw him the keys and say fly smart, but would he be able to log that time without the endorsement?

Joe, what he will need is a tailwheel endorsement. He will need an instructor sign off for solo to operate the 172T. At this point of the game generally changing the type of airplane on a student is difficult. The cheapest way I advocate getting your son his license is to stay with the school aircraft since he is that close to solo and get his ticket then get him up to speed on the 172T. If you find a tailwheel instructor to take him on in your aircraft then that would be fine but generally insurance will not cover this type of scenario. You must contact insurance and add instructor as named pilot because of the uniqueness of the 172T. Some private policies will not underwrite this scenario either because both pilots are not private or above. It will honestly be cheaper and less hassle with the school. PM me if you have anymore questions. Doug

Joe, one thing to consider when letting your son, or anyone else, fly it (tail dragger 172) is to check with your insurance carrier to be sure what they require of a pilot to be covered while operating your 172TD. My insurance is with Travers / Old Republic and their requirement is for any pilot to have a minimum of 500 total hours, 100 in tailwheel and 10 in make & model. These requirements are pretty standard although I can't speak for other carriers for sure, but the thing that gets me is they will not accept an otherwise qualified pilot to fly my plane unless he/she has the 10 hours in a C-172 conventional geared plane. Makes no difference that the 56-59 C-172 (tailwheel) is for all practical reasons a B model 170, they won't accept someone with hundreds of hours in 170's, 180's, 185's, C-175 tailwheel or others. Makes one wonder if the underwriters have much practical knowledge

NO George, it's not a Green thing

Frank has a good point, but check with other insurance carriers as well. One fellow I know bought a homebuilt biplane and needed a checkout and a few hours with an instructor. There wasn't an instructor who could do this, but there was an airshow pilot who had lots and lots of Pitts time, who was willing to do the checkout. The insurance company allowed that, based on experience, even though he wasn't a CFI.

I use AVEMCO. They have very reasonable terms, and their customer service is the best I've ever seen. Right now they're insuring my 170 to be flown by my student (starting with no TW time), and it costs about $140/month above what I normally pay. I haven't found another company that will do that.

I suppose they have to bend the rules a bit for one-holers. I'd think you have to have experience in a "similar" airplane. By the same token I can't imagine that a 172 taildragger would fly much differently from a 170, and should suffice for the experience.

cessna170bdriver wrote:... By the same token I can't imagine that a 172 taildragger would fly much differently from a 170, and should suffice for the experience.

Especially a GREEN one, since things happen so much more slowly in them...

Thanks for all the replies!
But it looks like it all boils down to one word... 'INSURANCE'
Sometimes, you just can't please everybody. I flew my C-120 for over 30 years without ever dropping a dime on insurance. And that was from a 25 hour student until just recent.
What I understand from these replies is that he has to get a tailwheel endorsement to log time in my 172TW. We can get that done.